Shadow
by Umbro Draco
Summary: Raven's always been alone. But when a boy from her home planet comes, can she stop from falling in love with him? Does she want to? And what secrets does this boy hold? RavenxOC.
1. Falling

_Well, this is my first fic, so it's probably going to suck, then again, it might not. Depends on the reader, I suppose... Anyway, some of this is going to be AU, some of this, like what Raven's powers can actually do- I don't really know, I never read the comics. Somebody who wants to fill me on that, go ahead, but I won't use it in my story unless it comes up. It probably won't. Oh, and I am going to try not to use over used themes, like Raven's emotions (no offense to those of you who did that, but it is over used), so if I do, please tell me and I'll fix it, unless I put there on purpose..._

0 0 0

She let a sigh escape from her, looking out the window into the dark and stormy night, waiting for Beast Boy to stop talking. He'd been talking about... well, she didn't know anymore, she stopped paying attention. She'd been feeling more and more uncomfortable lately, and she didn't know why.

"Raven?"

"What, Robin?"

"Well, you've been acting kinda strange lately. Anything you want to talk about?"

"...No. I just feel like something's going to happen.. That's all."

"Something good...or bad?"

"...I don't know. I'm going to bed."

With that, she left, heading to her room. She didn't want to be bothered anymore. She sighed. She shouldn't have told Robin that. Now he'll just worry, and he'll never stop asking her about it. Oh well, what's done is done, isn't it?

As she climbed into her bed, she couldn't shake the feeling. Something was going to happen. She just didn't know what.

0 0 0

She woke unexpectedly two hours later. She felt confused, anxious, but mostly, she felt like she needed to get out of bed. She wouldn't be able to sleep, she knew. She had to do something, _anything._ She left to go to the living room. She would sit by the window, watching the rain fall, like she had done all week.

When she got there, she sat down and waited for the night to be over. This was going to be a _long_ night.

But before two minutes had passed from that thought, she looked out into the sky just as a flash of lightning lit it up. She saw a...boy... _falling_? Why was a boy falling from the sky as if he was tossed out of a plane unconscious? She didn't know, but she had to save him. He would die if he hit the water at that speed, but from the speed he was falling at, they couldn't get to him in time. There was no way. She hit the alarm and decided to try anyway.

The rest of the titans were out in a few seconds as if they had been waiting right outside the door. Beast Boy was the only was who didn't look ready, being in his boxers, sucking on his thumb, and carrying a stuffed green elephant. Doesn't he ever get tired of the color green?

Cyborg was the first to ask. " What happened?" He looked at Raven's anxious face. "Raven? What's wrong?"

"There's a boy falling outside. See him? I can't get to him in time, but I figured that maybe Starfire or Beast Boy could. Hurry!"

Beast Boy and Starfire immediately took off the catch the falling boy. In between the falling rain, the bright lightning, and the thunder booming, they could barely make the boy out. They could only see him because of the speed at which he was falling. He was almost at the water...

Starfire was flying as fast as she could, and Beast Boy went into the water in case he hit it before they got there. They were almost there...but so was he.

Raven, Robin, and Cyborg just watched as the race for time continued. But they could all see what was going to happen. It couldn't be avoided.

Raven just pulled her hood up, and waited for the inevitable to happen. But Starfire and Beast Boy were so close, it looked as if they just might make it. All of them were hoping and praying Starfire could get there fast enough.

Then the boy hit the water.

0 0 0

_All right, it sucked, even to me. It was short, but it really does look a lot bigger in word. I can envision it in my head better than I can write it, obviously. I might even not continue it, I feel that bad about it already. It might be my first fic, but honestly... somebody tell me what I can do to improve... _


	2. Awake?

Woo hoo! 3 reviews! It's more than I expected to get. It's probably just those reviews that kept me going. Oh, and the rating might change in the future. Might. Anyway...

_**Insanity 101: **thanks. I will try that, if I can get more of that, maybe it'll be longer. Hopefully. Difference between Broken and this, is that I actually like Broken. But if you say this has potential, I will try. We'll see how it comes out. Oh, and about the boy, you could say that..._

_**Angel Caida: **thanks._

_**Riter 402**: yeah, I've actually been thinking about this for a while. Kinda like a daydream, you know? Then I realized I could put it into a story..._

**0 0 0**

"Hurry up! Get him in here! He's still alive, we might have a chance of saving him!"

Cyborg and Robin were in the medical room, acting like professional MD's. Raven just wished she could help. There was something about this boy... it made her uneasy and interested at the same time. She didn't know whether or not to trust him. That wasn't something she liked to feel. Normally she didn't care about a complete stranger, but...

Raven stayed silent as Beast Boy and Starfire paced around the hallway. When the boy hit the water, Beast Boy had gotten him here as fast as he could. Starfire was crying ever since they brought him into the medical room, saying it was her fault. Beast Boy tried to comfort her, but to no avail. She just kept crying, and Raven was getting a headache.

"Starfire, shut up! There was nothing you could do, get over it! Take it like a...never mind. Just shut up!" She had been more on edge lately than ever before. She knew that couldn't be a good sign, but honestly, she really didn't care at the moment.

"Well, the kid's in a coma. It could take him at least a week to wake up. All we can do now is wait and see," Cyborg said, coming out of the room. All of them left, itching to go back to sleep. Except Raven. She stayed behind. She wanted a closer look at him. It was making her angry that she had to be kept in suspense about this.

She walked into the room and immediately noticed the boy's tan skin and handsome face. He had black, thin hair, having enough hair to give him bangs down to his eyebrows. He had no clothing on as far as she could tell. The sheets covering him came up to his stomach. She guessed that was because of the heart monitor wires, and other such things attached to his muscular chest. But she noticed all the cuts, along with a few scars, on his body. Some looked pretty deep, and it looked like Cyborg and Robin tried to fix them. His muscles were nicely toned, more so than Robin's. He wasn't a big person, but he looked to have a good amount of strength for someone who looked a little older than Raven.

She reached forward to open an eyelid, but paused. It couldn't hurt, right? She grabbed hold of his eyelashes and pulled them up. Damnit! Of course, she couldn't see his eyes, they were rolled back in his head! She would have to wait, something she had been doing too much this past week.

She decided to get some sleep. She could always check on him tomorrow.

0 0 0

This time, she actually slept quite peacefully. She woke up feeling relatively refreshed compared to the past few days. It took her a minute to realize why she felt so anxious, but once she remembered, she rushed out of the room, impatient. When she got to the medical room and saw him, he looked the same, yet different at the same time. Something was different she knew. She also knew nothing should be very different after only a few hours, and it scared her a little.

'_What is it about this kid? Why is this happening to me?'_ she wondered. Then she saw it. His cuts had healed more than they should have. A few even turned into scars. Some turned nonexistent. Granted, he looked a lot better, but he shouldn't have. She decided to leave it alone. She would have to wait and see what happened next.

As she left to go get breakfast, she couldn't help but notice how impatient she was becoming. She always had patience, she had pride in it. It was something Robin didn't have a lot of the time, Cyborg and Beast Boy...well, she wasn't going to go there. And Starfire was just so naive, she wouldn't leave you alone, whether or not you wanted her to or not.

As she entered the kitchen, everybody was there except Starfire. Robin was eating...she really didn't know what. Cyborg and Beast Boy had apparently finished. So when she sat down at the table with her breakfast, it was just her and Robin.

"Where'd Starfire go?" she asked.

"Oh, she went to go see if the kid was doing any better. She still feels guilty about what happened, I guess she feels like it's her duty to watch over him or something."

She felt a pang of anger and jealousy at what Robin just said. _'Jealousy? Why_ _would I be feeling jealous? I don't even know the kid!'_

Just then Starfire came back, gasping for breath as if she just ran all the way from the medical bay. Wait, running?

"The boy, he has become awake!"


	3. To Be Trusted?

Yes, I realize that this story is awful, but a few more reviews would be nice (like from g33k, and angel vanilla, yes I know you're watching this story, -laughs evilly-). Oh, and there appears to be some confusion about what I mean for the AU part of this story. To be more specific, Azarath is a whole world, not a floating island like in the episode "The Prophecy." And her past, I guess, though I won't get into that much, if at all. Tell me if you think I should up the rating. Anyway... Oh, and if you want to know about the disclaimer, read my profile. That will tell you.

**Insanity 101: **LOL, you didn't review because of my review did you? Look, a review from my favorite author is always nice, but I wasn't trying to make you review. I just thought it was funny. Yeah, the pairing is the only way the story would work later on. I'll write a RaeRob just for you after this. Yeah, I knew the comparing to Robin would get you, and I'm sorry, it was just too good a chance to pass up. Yes, it was evil, that's why I did it! -Laughs evilly while lightning strikes in the backround- Now, you got to understand that I was just messing with you about the predictable thing, I didn't really mean it –glances from side to side- just the hint was a little easy to pick up. Your stories are never predictable, that's why I love them (partly anyway, they're just plain good too). I could also guess from the fact that you love Slade so much. Well, about the kid (yes I understand your twitch, but a guy's gotta have fun somehow), I'm won't reveal anything just yet, but the AU explanation above should give it away for you... and a barbecue is always fun, I'm up for it. LOL. Thanks for the review, I honestly died laughing all the way through.

0 0 0

'_Awake?'_

Raven was the first to react. She was right- this kid _wasn't_ normal. He couldn't be. Cyborg said at least a _week, _and he had only been out for a few _hours_. People just don't wake up from comas just like that. Because she can go through wall and floors, however, she was the first there by a few minutes.

When she got there, the boy was almost done with the process of getting all the wires attached to him off. But the moment she entered the room, he immediately stopped to look at her. He paused, then finished taking off the wires.

"Um...hi?" he said, getting out of the bed. Her immediate reaction was to close her eyes because of his nakedness, but kept them open for some reason. When he got up, she was relieved to see him with shorts on.

"Where are the rest of my clothes?" he asked, deciding to forget the last question due to the lack of response. Raven noticed that he had a deep voice considering his age, yet it was strangely comforting.

"Um..." she said, busy looking at his body. She felt oddly...comfortable around him. Like she could completely trust him. That wasn't something she normally felt, not right away, at least. Some commotion behind her diverted her attention to the people coming in the door. She stepped away, towards the corner of the room, so that she could see everybody, separate herself from everybody, and allow Cyborg to take the floor.

"Uh, your clothes are being washed. Sorry, they were torn and bloody, so I fixed them and washed them. I hope you don't mind," Cyborg said.

He stayed silent, looking at each one of them as if analyzing them all. It made Raven feel a little uncomfortable, as if he were looking into her soul somehow. He couldn't have been, though, she would have noticed. Right?

"So...I just walk around like this until they're ready?"

"Well, Robin's about your size, I'm sure he has a shirt you could wear."

"Umm..." Robin spoke his uncertainty. "I don't really have anything other than this..."

Raven was tired of the conversation already and decided to change the subject. "So, your name is...?"

"Shadow," he said, seeming uninterested in the question.

"Where are you from? And why were you falling out of the sky?" Cyborg asked.

This seemed to catch his attention. His head snapped back to Cyborg from looking outside. "...If you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it. It's really not something I'm comfortable with." He had, as far as Raven could tell, somewhat of a pained expression behind the curious mask he was putting up.

"Look, you can stay with us until you find a place to stay," Robin offered. He seemed to have the same feeling as Raven, in that he could be trusted. Raven didn't expect this from Robin either, and she started to get a little nervous.

Shadow merely nodded and whispered a simple thanks. At the mention of food from Starfire, his stomach rumbled loud enough for everyone to hear. Obviously embarrassed, he lowered his head and said it was all right, but Starfire would not hear of it.

"Look," he said at the table, "are you sure it's okay for me to eat here? Like this?" indicating his half-nude self. " I mean, I don't want to be intrusive..."

"Nonsense, we would happily have you here. Besides..."

Conversations went on for hours, during the mean time Shadow got his clothes back. He was dressed in black shorts, and a black skin-tight shirt. He didn't appear to be Goth, just dressed in black. _'Hence the name Shadow,'_ Raven thought. Everybody seemed to like him, seemed to trust him, and just when they were getting comfortable, the alarm rang out, making everybody jump up to see what happened. Except Shadow.

"Slade," Robin mused, "in an old abandoned warehouse. Can't he be more original? Titans, Go!"

0 0 0

Slade was already wrecking things when the Titans got there, and seemed to enjoy baiting the Titans, because there really wasn't a lot to wreck.

"Slade, why are you wrecking an old abandoned warehouse?" Robin said somewhat forcefully.

"Robin, do I really need to explain everything to you? Just leave it at...I do what I want to. You don't need to know why."

Before any fighting could begin, all of Slade's robots exploded the moment they stepped out into the light, sending shards everywhere and making everybody flinch. Slade could hear a faint whisper in his ear, _leave, leave now before you get hurt. _Slade whipped around to see who was whispering in his ear, but no one was there. His nerves racked, he turned to the Titans, and left without a word.

But Raven felt some presence in the room they were in. Somebody was watching her. She looked into every corner of the room, every shadow, yet still could find nothing out of the ordinary. She stared blankly into a shadow at the far end, thinking. While staring at the shadow she saw something move, something black. She couldn't figure it out until it suddenly disappeared.

Then she grew angry.

0 0 0

yeah, it was a little rushed, I know. Okay, it was **really** rushed. But I got the point I wanted to make across, and I really didn't feel like going into a lot of detail at the end. Yeah, call me lazy, but I got done what I wanted to. Anyway, more reviews would be nice. Please?


	4. Innocent?

Yes, it seems I have an unconscious tendency to put cliffhangers up...but hey, it works, right? Anyway, I got more reviews! I have eight! Now, I really don't know why I'm happy, it's only seven, but hey, reviews are reviews! Yeah...anyway, I will try to make this chapter not so rushed like last chapter. Yeah...

_**Insanity 101: **lol, go find a babe on Azarath? You'll see why he doesn't later on. Oh, I will keep my promise about the RaeRob story, I'll write it right after this. Yes, Azarath is an entirely different world. You'll see why. I love mysteries. They're so much fun, don't you think? Especially when you're writing them. Shadow evil? It could be possible...I'll leave that for you to decide. The longer the review, the better, and the more laughter I get from it. Yeah, I have to admit, strep sucks. I don't like it. Really sorry, but what does ttyl stand for? Lol, I know I'm probably going to be jeered at for that, but hey, you can't learn if you don't ask questions. Lol, hope you get better soon!_

_**Angel Caida: **lose control? I don't know she might...lol, you'll figure it out in the next five minutes, right? Look forward to more reviews!_

_And to borrow a quote from my favorite author...ehem...shut up and read!_

0 0 0

"You!" Raven yelled angrily after getting back to the tower to see Shadow sitting peacefully at the table.

"Me?" he said, looking up from the table in an innocent expression. Behind that innocent expression, she could tell he knew what she was talking about.

"You...you're...you're a half demon, aren't you! There's no other way! You were there at the warehouse! I saw you! You made those robots explode, didn't you? Admit it!"

He didn't answer right away. He just looked at her blankly for a while, seemingly lost in thought. Now she knew why. He _had_ to be half demon. That would explain his injuries just healing like that. Her anger was beginning to slowly ebb away.

"Well?" she pressed. She had to know. She thought she was the only one...sure, plenty of people have gotten raped by demons before, just they never survived. Her mother was the only one she knew of that ever survived the rape...

"...I _really_ don't want to talk about it," he said quickly, sinking straight through the couch without anything fancy, like the couch just wasn't there. He walked quickly out of the room.

"No," she whispered. "We are _going_ to talk about it." She ran out of the room, to see him at the end of the hall. How had he done that? Nobody walks that fast, she came running through the door just two seconds after him! _'He's heading for the roof. I'll just have to meet him there,'_ she thought, going through the ceiling to find him already there, sitting on the edge, looking out into the ocean. She gasped and stepped back, not believing what she was seeing. She stared in wonder, her anger long gone. Curiosity was all that remained.

She slowly took a seat beside him, looking out into the ocean in the moonlight. "It's all right, you know. I'm half demon, too," she said, revealing something to someone she had known for a day that she had not even told her friends.

He shook his head. "I'm not ashamed of the fact that I'm half demon, nor that I'm from Azarath. I would have told you sooner or later. It's just not a comfortable feeling when you meet someone you like, to say 'I'm a half demon' in the first few minutes. It's not something you usually start a conversation with, you know? It's just...my past. I don't want to talk about my life before I came here, okay? It's not something I'm proud of." She could see a bit of pain in his eyes when he mentioned his past. What happened to him?

She nodded. She could respect that. He was just so mysterious, so intriguing. So handsome...no. She promised herself she could never have a love life a long time ago. This was not the time to go back on her word. Still, she never fathomed that there would be another half demon in her life...

"So, why were you at the warehouse? Why didn't you just tell us you were there?" she asked.

"I wanted to see how _bad_ this villain was. You made it sound like he was the most evil guy ever, but he was a wuss from what I can tell. Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just...I don't know, I really don't. I just didn't feel it was the best time. I'll tell your friends."

She began to notice how shy he really was. He blushed a deep red when he said he'd tell everybody else. "No," she said, deciding to take it a step further, "they're you're friends, too. Don't tell my friends, tell yours."

He just smiled at this, still looking off into the distance. Lord, he was handsome...no. Raven knew she had to get these ridiculous infatuation ideas out of her head. "I'm going to meditate," she said, getting up to leave.

He looked at her oddly when she said that. "You mean, you meditate?" he asked.

"Yes. What, you don't?" she snapped.

He shook his head. "I haven't had to meditate in..." he trailed off, counting in his head. "Seven years," he finished.

He took note of her puzzled expression and went on. "Seven years ago, I figured out a way to keep from meditating. It's hard to get to, but the reward is worth it. I can feel whatever without consequence, never have to meditate." He looked at her beautiful face in the moonlight. "I can teach you, but it will take a while." He shrugged. "It's up to you."

This was almost unbelievable. Maybe she could finally stop meditating, have a life maybe. She smiled and asked, "When do we start?" 

0 0 0

"Are you sure you want to do this? This could take all night, and will put a little strain on you body..."

"Just tell me what to do."

"Okay, here we go. First..."

0 0 0

Man, I hate the way I write. I **suck. **I don't really think I'm going to explain how he does it. I know how he does it, just the idea is kinda weird, you may not like it, and I'm not going to chance it. Unless you really want to hear a weird explanation, I'm going to skip to right after they finish. Oh, and in case you're waiting for it, romance it in the next chapter...hehehehe... This was my longest chapter yet. Still short.


	5. Angry

_All right, I'm only (well, not really **only**) finishing this story because I hate to leave things unfinished. Again, if you want a disclaimer, look at my home page. This is not the last chapter, though. Though I might speed this story up to make it less chapters than I originally planned._

_**Angel Caida: **That may be your job, but you know it's true. LOL._

_Damn, doesn't anyone else review? Seriously..._

0 0 0

"Raven? Raven?"

She woke with a start. Looking around, she realized that she was still in her room, sitting on the floor, legs crossed. Had it worked? She didn't feel any different. She felt hot, and was sweating all over, breathing a little heavy. Shadow was sweating, too, though he was breathing smoothly.

"How many days have we been doing this?" she asked him. She was hungry.

He looked at her. "Two days."

"Did...did it work?" She was feeling a little anxious.

Shadow just looked at her. And she looked at him. He had the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen. She noticed he was looking at her oddly, with hope in his eyes. Almost regret.

And he kissed her. The moment she realized what he had done, she couldn't move. Her immediate impulse was to push him off, slap him at least. But she stayed. She..._enjoyed_ it, she realized. Suddenly, she didn't care; she kissed him back, enjoying his warmth as she tasted his sweet lips. That moment seemed to last forever. To them, they were the only ones living, nobody else mattered, and they were in heaven.

"I guess it worked," Shadow said, looking around the room when they were done. Everything was the same.

Raven didn't care. She wanted to sleep, lying in his arms. She felt so comfortable, she wanted for it to last forever. She was so happy she could feel now, she could express everything, anything, and she wouldn't have to worry about it. She just hugged him tighter and fell asleep.

0 0 0

Even now, five months later, the rest of the titans didn't know about Raven and Shadow, as they decided it was best for now. They would tell them when they were ready. Everybody but Shadow had apparently forgotten about Shadow not being a Titan. Not officially, anyway. He went to missions with them. He ate with them. He even slept on the couch, at least until Raven noticed and made him sleep in her room.

He had earned most of the Titan's trust, all except Beast Boy's. Beast Boy just didn't seem want to trust him, or like him for that matter. He tried everything to make Shadow angry, and ended up being the one who was irate because of Shadow's nonchalant attitude. Until he took it a little to far...

"Dude, Shadow, I got a joke for ya'," Beast Boy stated, seemingly happy with himself for obviously making up a joke to insult him.

"Shoot," he said. Most of Beast Boy's insults didn't bother him, they were that pitiful

"Okay, what do you get when you cross a cow and a girl from Azarath?"

Shadow just looked. He wouldn't, not again.

"Your mom!" he yelled, as he died laughing on the floor. Shadow stayed silent. Those were the only jokes that bothered him, and he never said anything after those, for fear he would say anything worse to Beast Boy than he usually did. His stomach twisted with pain as he thought about his mother. He never knew her...

"Yo, what's with the silence, Shadow? Run out of comebacks for my jokes?" came Beast Boy's sneer.

"Beast Boy, you may not like me, but I still respect you. I'm going to have to ask you to stop telling 'your mom' jokes. They're really not funny, and they're disrespectful. Please stop."

"Why? Just because your dad had you in a barn when your mom was eight years old..."

That was as far as he got. He suddenly felt a foot kick behind his leg, causing him to fall. But before he even got halfway to the ground, a hand grabbed his neck, and Beast Boy found himself up against the wall. Looking at Shadow with fear for his life, and for his air, he was kicking his short legs in panic. Shadow drew back his free hand and punched. Right into the wall beside Beast Boy's head. Not as hard as he could, but hard enough to scare him and put a hole as big as Cyborg's head in the wall. Beast Boy could see the fire burn in his eyes, as he dropped him to the ground, gasping for breath as though he had just run miles, his chest pounding painfully as it demanded air. He thought he was going blind as the darkness started to surround him because he couldn't get the air fast enough...

Shadow turned and left. He wasn't going to take it anymore. His mom didn't deserve that.

Raven saw him go and followed him out the door. She had never seen him actually act when he was upset. He always kept it inside, making it hard to tell whether or not he was actually mad. She had gotten a little better at being able to tell, but this time...he had snapped.

He was heading for the roof she knew. That was his favorite place to relax and be alone. Mostly alone with her, but that wasn't the point. The point was...she wanted to know his past. He always seemed so hurt when it came up. She had to know.

"Shadow," she stated, walking slowly up behind him to site down beside him and lean up against him, enjoying the warmth he always gave off. "What happened? I know you don't like to talk about it, but the more you bottle it up, well...it's not good for you. Please, Shadow. Please, let me know. I'll share the pain if it helps. Please," she pleaded with him.

He looked at her. For the first time, she saw tears swimming in his eyes. "I can't tell you. I wouldn't get through the story. But I can show you. But you have to promise me...please, promise me that you'll understand. Understand that I'm not like that anymore, that if I could erase my past, I would. Please..." he choked on his words at the end, burying his face in Raven's shoulder.

She had never seen him cry before, but it was comforting to know he could. That he was human enough to. That he _trusted_ her enough to show her this side of him. "Shh, Shadow, it's okay. I believe you, and I _love_ you. Nothing you have ever done could take that away. It's okay," were her comforting words. Shadow believed her. He trusted her, more than anyone he had in his entire life.

"Okay." And with that, she went with him to her room, where they would have some privacy. She was glad.

0 0 0

In the living room, a certain green boy woke up where he passed out. Anger as strong as Hades came up as the recent events replayed in his mind. He would love to see Shadow suffer, and he would make it happen. He would find some way...

0 0 0

_Okay, I suck at writing mushy stuff. And just because Shadow is sleeping with Raven, doesn't mean he's _sleeping_ with her. Nasty minds you have. Shame on you. Anyway, the next chapter will be Shadow's past. Yeah, have fun._


	6. His Past

Ok then, well it's been a good while since I updated. Let's just say that school sucks and marching band takes up more time than most people realize. Yeah, needless to say, I'm having a hard time in school. I'm failing a class for the first time in my life, and it doesn't look like it's going to come up...enough of that. I'm a little pissed that I'm failing the class...anyway...

Just in case, I do not own "Easier to Run" by Linkin Park. Sorry, but it fit perfectly into the story. I do own Niderolite, though. Hey here's something cool you might like. If you ever read a story and it has a song in it, listen to the song. Now, if you don't have it, go to cdzinc dot com and search for it. Just a suggestion.

Oh, one more thing, IMPORTANT Scathe is used in this story as another demon. Again, I COMPLETELY made up history here. Scathe and Trigon rule half of Azarath each, until Scathe is killed for good and Trigon takes his name. Raven knows about this "alliance" (the alliance that says they can rule half of the world each) between Trigon and Scathe, but only that there was an "alliance," nothing more. She only knows this much because she was sent to earth at a young age. Shadow was sent just when he fell out of the sky. Make sense? Again, for goodness sakes, this is MADE UP. Don't review telling me my history is wrong.

_**Silent Murderess: **yeah, I'm sure you would. People who never knew their mom's because of something like rape or other causes would flip. I'm glad I'm not one of those people._

_**Crypto137: **um...thanks._

_**Lyfe.exe: **you have to be lying, but thanks anyway. LOL._

_**Insanity 101: **yeah, um, sure, I guess I'll do it. I won't _win,_ or anything, but what the hey. No harm in trying is there? Well, actually..._

**_evilsangel:_** again, you have to be lying, but thanks, I look forward to more reviews.

_Yeah, well, have fun._

0 0 0

A green, swirling light. That was all she saw, or at least, that was all she remembered. She knew nothing, remembered nothing. The only thing she knew was the full view of a green swirling light, dancing it's way around her, laughing at her as it danced. All went black, until she realized she was on unfamiliar earth and her eyes adjusted to the star-less night.

The grass was the greenest she had ever seen. She looked around, and saw herself and Shadow as transparent figures on top of a one-sided hill. Behind them, there was long grass as far as the horizon, nothing more. Beside them, on Raven's left, there was a cave, with who-know-what in it. On Raven's right, there was a lone house far away from the seemingly deserted large town a little walk away from the hill.

Shadow started walking toward the town. In the middle of the town was a path leading for a couple miles to a gigantic castle. The houses on either side of them were laid out in a pattern she did not recognize. There were shops for food and other things towards the middle of the path to the castle. It was so silent this night that Raven dared not ask Shadow where they were going. The look on his face didn't help matters either.

"...Shadow?" she finally whispered. He looked at her but kept walking. She didn't like the feeling she was getting, and was afraid of what might happen.

"What's going on? Where are we going? Where is this place?" she asked.

He stopped and sighed. "This," he said, putting his hands up, indicating everything around him, "is my memory. I told you I could show you what happened to me. This is how I will do it. We are going to that castle in front of us. And...this is Azarath. This is the side of the world ruled by Scathe. Not a very happy place. People here are scared, and for good reason."

He fell silent and they reached the castle a short while later. "Get ready," he whispered. He stepped right through the doors, as they were not really there, pulling Raven with him. As they went inside, she immediately noticed how big it really was. It was all marble, with a large throne in the back of the room, big enough to seat an sperm whale comfortably. On the left was a staircase leading up, on the right, a staircase leading down. Shadow took the one going up.

**_It's easier to run_**

**_Replacing this pain with something numb_**

**_It's so much easier to go_**

**_Than face all this pain here all alone_**

**By the time they got to the top of the stairs, sh**e was a little winded, for it took a little while to get up there. They reached the top and came to a locked stone door. She started wondering how they would get through, but yet again, she forgot they were only ghosts in his memory.

"...and I grow weary of this, Father. I do this off of your assumptions, and-" was the sound of memory Shadow's voice until it was drowned out by the roar of what Raven assumed to be his father.

"Quiet!" was the roar that came, and he gave memory Shadow a crushing blow to the head, causing him to fly into the wall, making a sickening crunch of Shadow's body and an explosion of rubble from the wall.

That was when Raven really saw Shadow's father for the first time. He was huge, and looked to be strong enough to tear a volcano from the ground. He was black with red lightning stripes all over him that seemed to give him a more powerful aura, as if he didn't already seem powerful enough. He had a bald head with pointy ears, and sharp, stone slabs coming out of his shoulders.

"I make the rules here! I decide who is against me and who is not! I decide whether or not somebody is plotting against me! And I also decide when **you** take care of these treacheries instead of my guards! You tell me you are weary, yet you are young. You don't know what weary really means. There **_is_** an army of people coming to strike, and I want you to take care of it! You will attack tomorrow evening, and take one prisoner for me to torture, and two more for me to eat."

"...Yes, Father."

Memory Shadow limped out of the room, sore from the collision between him and the wall. He walked down the stairs, with Raven and the real Shadow following him. When they got halfway down the stairs, memory Shadow stopped and turned towards the wall, waving a hand in front of it, causing the stone wall to shift into an opening. As they walked in, Raven realized that this was his room. It was cozy, with a fire going on the right wall, and his bed on the left wall. There were books, many, many books, on shelves against the far wall, and a long sword and a curved dagger hanging beside his bed. But the most noticeable thing about the room was one small picture of a beautiful woman with brown hair and blue eyes.

**_Something has been taken_**

**_From deep inside of me_**

**_A secret I've kept locked away_**

**_No one can ever see_**

**_Wounds so deep they never show_**

**_They never go away_**

**_Like moving pictures in my head_**

**_For years and years they've played_**

"That was my mother," the real Shadow said, looking at the picture painfully. "She was killed by my father once he no longer need her to take care of me. That picture is the only connection I have to her, and I wait for the day when I can see her."

**_If I could change I would_**

**_Take back the pain I would_**

**_Retrace every wrong move that I made I would_**

**_If I could take all the shame to the grave I would_**

Memory Shadow kneeled beside his bed, and looked at his wounds, healing them in an instant. Then he laid down on his bed, took the picture in his hands, and looked at it for a long time, finally laying it back down a falling asleep. The real Shadow turned to Raven and covered her eyes with his hands. She felt the feeling of nothingness around her, yet when Shadow uncovered her eyes, she was looking at memory Shadow pacing around the room, with nothing but black shorts on and a long sword attached to his back. She jumped when she heard the fired beside her roar and turn into Shadow's father's head.

"It is time." His father's head said.

"Yes, lord Scathe."

0 0 0

Shadow and Raven followed memory Shadow out of the castle, into the dark of the night lit only by the faint glow of stars. Instead of going down the main road of the town, memory Shadow took a left behind a house and disappeared into the air. Raven started to follow, but Shadow put a hand on her shoulder, and led her down the main road. Not far from the castle, Shadow stopped, took hold of Raven's hand, and looked into her eyes.

"You told me before that you would understand, right? That whatever happens here, I've regretted for the rest of my life, and I would take it back if I could. You understand, right?"

"Yes, of course, Shadow," she said, starting to worry, not just from the anticipation of what might happen, but from the look in his eyes as well.

He gripped her hand a little tighter, but comfortably tighter, and floated himself and Raven on top of the house beside them. There they sat together until Raven eventually saw a very large mob of people coming from the hill. As they got closer, Raven realized that they had on armor, armor she recognized to be from Trigon's mortal army. The closer they came, the more she realized how large the army was. There had to be thousands, maybe more. The one leader of the group marched right up in front of the castle, easy for Raven to see him. He was a large person compared to the rest of the army, and held a monstrous battle-ax in one hand and a large shield in the other. He shouted out to the castle.

**_It's easier to run_**

**_Replacing this pain with something numb_**

**_It's so much easier to go_**

**_Than face all this pain here all alone_**

"Scathe, I know you hear me! Come out with your surrender and nobody will be hurt. I have an army of thousands, even you cannot stand against that!"

Scathe came out on a ledge, looking down at the commander with boredom written all over his face. He said nothing, only listened as the commander spoke.

"Ah, Scathe, you surrender, do you? Any last words, Scathe?"

Scathe responded without any enthusiasm to go along with it.

"Die."

**_Sometimes I remember_**

**_The darkness of my past_**

**_Bringing back these memories_**

**_I wish I didn't have_**

**_Sometimes I think of letting go_**

**_And never looking back_**

**_And never moving forward so_**

**_There would never bee a past_**

And with that single word, Scathe went inside the castle, only to have a wind pass by everyone in the front ranks of the army. Seconds later after the wind, the commander collapsed, falling backward with his head nearly decapitated, blood smeared all over his face and chest plate.

"What happened?" asked a frightened soldier near the front.

The voice came seemingly from nowhere, as it reverberated across the town so all the soldiers could hear, and only Shadow and Raven recognized it- it was Shadow himself. "You come here to meet your doom, a foolish act. Thinking you could come here to win a war, even if it is 2,000 to one." Even before Shadow's voice was finished talking, hundreds of random soldiers fell down dead, some cut in half from the shoulder to the hip, others stabbed through the chest, and others decapitated or killed the same way the commander was. More still were cut right behind the knee, left on the ground to bleed to death. By the time someone realized that the army was dropping like flies, somebody else saw memory Shadow standing by the castle, sword tip on the ground and hilt in his hand in front of him.

**_Just washing it aside_**

**All of the helplessness inside **

**_Pretending I don't feel misplaced_**

**_Is so much simpler than change_**

"This is your last chance," he boomed, scaring the already scared soldiers more. "Leave before needless life is-"

And another scared soldier yelled and ran at shadow, sword over his head. Memory Shadow stood his ground, hardly looking at the attacking soldier, when a spike of black energy, apparently coming from memory Shadow, went right through man's face, while memory Shadow stabbed his sword right through the man's stomach at the same time. The man coughed, blood spewing from his mouth, and he fell to the ground, blood pouring from his mouth onto the ground under him. A woman suddenly ran from a house next to the street, in between the army and Shadow, yelling.

"Please stop! I have done nothing wrong, yet I am punished for this bloodshed! I am made to pick up the bodies of the young, bodies of the women. This-"

And she suddenly stopped. She fell to her knees, coughing and choking for air, as if she were being strangled by an imaginary power- which she was.

Raven gasped when she realized what was happening to the innocent woman. A child no more than 7 years old ran from the house to the woman, screaming "Mother!" But before the child could reach his mother, he fell face first into the dirt, blood pouring from his neck onto the ground, creating a puddle under his body.

The battle seemed to go on for only an hour, considering how many people there were for memory Shadow to kill. When it was finally over, when Raven was finally introduced to Shadow's killing side, memory Shadow walked into the middle of the battlefield, and knelt. Raven could tell he was mourning, but he slowly got up. Shadow got up as well, the real one, and started walking to the hill where they started. Memory Shadow was also walking to the same hill, where a child was playing in the field. When he got there, he looked at the girl. And he just looked. The girl finally noticed him, and Raven finally noticed that the bodies in the battlefield were gone. Somehow Shadow had managed to clean up the area. When the girl noticed him, she obviously didn't know who he was, for she laughed, ran up to him, and hugged him. Memory Shadow knelt down beside the girl and looked into her eyes.

"My name's Niderolite. And I know who you are." She giggled again. "You're the bad man mommy says to stay away from, but I don't believe you'll hurt me. I think you need a friend." She hugged him again.

Memory Shadow obviously couldn't believe his ears or eyes. Any other child would've been cared to death of him, for the stories about him were horrible, and some of them were true. Yet here was this girl, no older than 10 years old, greeting him like he was a long time friend.

"...Thank you," he said. But right after he said that, Niderolite's mother screamed and ran out of the house, covering her child from the monster in front of her.

"Stay away from her! Take me instead, please!" she screamed.

"I had no intention of harming your daughter or you, ma'am. I'm actually leaving Azarath for good right now. I was just meeting your daughter, I had no intention other than getting to know her."

"NO-" "Mommy," Niderolite interrupted her mother. "I greeted him, this nice man is my friend now. Don't scream at him, mommy." She turned her attention to memory Shadow once again. "Don't go, Shadow. Please don't go. We can have so much fun together..."

Memory Shadow smiled at this. The mother was obviously speechless at her daughter's actions, but Shadow ignored her. "How about this," he said, "I'll come back. And to ensure that I'll come back one day, take this. This is the most precious thing I have, so take good care of it, ok?" Niderolite nodded. Shadow gave her the picture of his mother. "Keep this," he continued, "and I promise I'll come back one day."

Niderolite nodded, taking the picture. She waved as memory Shadow headed for the cave on the other side of the hill. Raven and Shadow followed memory Shadow. Once inside the cave, memory Shadow headed toward the middle of the cave. Ice was all over the room, gleaming. Raven wondered how it could be so cold in here when outside it felt like summer. No matter, for memory Shadow was doing something far more interesting. Spinning around, he spread his hands and looked up into the ice above. A light shone from the ice, coming down to onto Shadow, and he disappeared. Before she knew it, both she and the real Shadow were back in the green light, going home at last...

**_It's easier to run _**

**_Replacing this pain with something numb_**

**_It's so much easier to go_**

**_Than face all this pain here all alone_**

0 0 0

Yeah, sorry if it was too graphic, but I had to make a point that Shadow's past was at least somewhat bad. It could've been worse, believe me, but I didn't want to turn away from your computer and my story, lol.


End file.
